, 1887-06-09
DO WE EVER FoaesTt

Cultivation Of the Memory-The Need of
Severe Discipline.
The quality of the mind which we call
memory has been well lkened to a store
house, into which have been thrust, with
out any definite order or arrangement.
precious things and worthless things,
priceless treasures and useless rubbish.
The mechanical task of selecting from
the confused heap a particular thing
which is needed is called an effort of the
memory, but should rather be called an
nrousal or excitation of the memory; for
it is all but certain that from the vast
~storehouse nothing ever disappears, moth
ing is ever lost, only when we cannot
find just what we want at the time we
want it, we say we have forgotten.
1t may be a bold assertion to say that
we never forget; that is, that nothing is
ever absolutely lost beyond the possibility
of recollection, or regathering, as the
word means, but the facts bear out the
claim that in the strict sense of the word
we never forget.
1t Is a common expression to say that
one person has a much finer emo than
another; but it only means that the one
has the power of selecting and arranging,
which the other has never cultivated, or
which has become weakened through
disease. 1t is undoubtedly true that some
have a higher natural power of this kind,
Just as some mems muscles are naturally
stronger than others; but the faculty ex-
lists in all who are of sound mind, and
a certainly be cultivated to a degree
which seems extraordinary to those who
have never looked into or thought upon
the subject.
Cultivation of the art of memory
which, by the way, is a ~singularly exact
expression for the process-is a matter
upon which much thought and attention
have been bestowed, and as to which
opihsons have widely differed. The lit
erature of mnemotechny has become
very extensive and many systems of
artificial memory have been devised to
help those whose ideas and associations
lack sequence, and who do not know
how to set about the task of recollecting.
But all these are outside the real idea OF
cultivating the memory. They are aids
to an unused or unframed faculty, moth
ing more. They are simply the applica-
ton OF mechanical force to help out a
weak or enfeebled muscle; they are not
the muscle itself.
The memory can be cultivated.
strengthened, made efficient and accurate
in only one way-by systematic and per-
sistent exercise. 1t does not differ in
this respect from any other human
faculty, whether of mind or body.
Muscle and intellect are subject to the
same rules and the same conditions; use
strengthens, disuse weakens. An in
efficient, feeble memory must be put
under rigid discipline and exercise sys-
tematically, and especially used in those
directions in which it is most defective.
Memories differ very widely, as to the
objects which they grasp with ease or
difficulty. One remembers dates with
accuracy, another is always uncertain
about them; one remembers faces per.
fectly, another always confuses them;
one remembers the sequence of events,
another is never absolutely certain as to
historic order or ~preoedence; one recol-
lects only the gravest and most import
ant affairs, another only froth and non
sense.
Each case of uncertain or defective
memory calls for his own treatment, and
that is severe discipline. A poor memory
for dates can be made better by hard
study of chronology; the useless faculty
Of remembering trivial things can be
cured by an exclusive study of matters
Of consequence.
We have said that the natural memory
differs widely in different people, and
history furnishes many incidents of per-
sons remarkable for the strength of their
memories; but the wonderful feats per
formed by these only establishes the
truth of the general proposition, that we
never really forget anything. just as re-
markable instances of muscular develop.
ment demonstrate the latent power Of
the muscle and show the extent to which
the forces of the human body may be in
creased. San Francisco Chronicle.